Vestas Remains Top Wind Turbine Maker, Goldwind Is Second

The wind-power market is predicted
to grow at a slower pace than previously forecast, with Make
Consulting and Navigant Consulting Inc. (NCI) both cutting their
growth predictions through 2016.

Global installations will probably increase at a compound 7
percent a year during the next five years, down from its
previous 10 percent prediction, Aarhus, Denmark-based Make said
today in an e-mailed statement. Navigant’s BTM Consult unit
today cut its cumulative forecast for the five years through
2016 by 14 percent to almost 270,000 megawatts of turbines.

Turbine makers from Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS), the biggest,
to Spain’s Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA and India’s Suzlon Energy
Ltd. (SUEL) have been buffeted by the loss of subsidies in three of the
seven biggest markets.

In the U.S., a cash grant program ended last year and a tax
credit expires in December, while Spain suspended clean-energy
incentives in January and an Indian tax break for wind farms is
set to expire on March 31.

“The reasons for the downgrade are regulatory uncertainty
in the U.S., India and Spain,” Robert Clover, an analyst with
Make, said today in a phone interview. In North America, the
expiring U.S. incentives led to “a certain amount of demand
being pulled forward, which will lead to a drop-off next year.”

BTM’s forecast downgrade “is justified by the fact that
the current sovereign debt crisis in the euro area has led to
panic across a number of crisis-stricken developed markets,”
the consultant said in an e-mailed statement. “Such measures
have applied pressure to reduce renewable incentives, which has
had a detrimental impact on investor confidence.”

Vestas on Top

Spain, which in 2009 was the top wind turbine installer in
Europe, according to Global Wind Energy Council data, this year
suspended subsidies to new renewable installations as it reins
in spending. The European share of new wind power fell last year
to 24.5 percent of the global total from more than half five
years ago, according to BTM.

Vestas (VWS) remained the world’s largest wind turbine maker with
12.9 percent of the market in 2011, BTM said. It topped Xinjiang
Goldwind Science Technology Co. with a 9.4 percent share.General Electric Co. (GE) was third with 8.8 percent, Gamesa was next
at 8.2 percent and Enercon GmbH ranked fifth at 7.9 percent,
Ringkoebing, Denmark-based BTM said today in an e-mailed
statement. Sinovel Wind Group dropped to seventh from second.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Morales in London at
amorales2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net.